Programme Announced for the Global Urban Air Summit

The programme for Farnborough International’s Global Urban Air Summit has been announced, confirming it as a landmark event that will have an impact on the future of flight.

It is bringing global industry together with governments and regulators for the first time to explore the biggest change in aerospace technology for a generation and, crucially, to discuss how the technology will operate.

The Summit, taking place on 3-4 September at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre opens with a truly global panel discussion, including:

Bob Pearce, Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics research for NASA.

Jay Merkel, Executive Director, Office of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, US Federal Aviation Administration is to provide the regulator’s view on urban air mobility examining the challenges, opportunities and threats.

Francois Sillion, Director, Advanced Technologies Research Centre, for Uber will then deliver a keynote presentation about on-demand aerial ridesharing.

Amanda Stainer, Farnborough International’s Chief Commercial and Partnerships Officer, says: “This programme delivers on our ambition to create a pivotal event that serves global industry, governments and regulators with a meaningful opportunity to explore the future for air transport.

“We’ve developed a programme with focus on the right areas: innovation, operation and investment, and I am very proud of the range and calibre of world-class speakers that are taking part in this Summit.”

Day two will feature Derrick Xiong, Co-founder of EHANG speaking for the first time in the UK. EHANG is leading the development of passenger-carrying autonomous vehicles having carried out a number of test flights with passengers on board.

Derrick is to be joined on day two by:

Davis Hackenberg, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, NASA.

Gwen Lighter, CEO of GoFly.

Michael Darcy, CCO of Vertical Aerospace.

Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive Inc. (Japan).

Emma Simpson, Head of innovation for the CAA.

Sir Brian Burridge, CEO of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

More speakers are expected to be announced over the coming weeks.

The Global Urban Air Summit will be followed-up with a dedicated exhibition at the July 2020 Farnborough International Airshow.